Amera Hassan, Member of the U of M’s First BA to MD Cohort, Reflects on Graduating from Medical School
Amera Hassan, Member of the U of M’s First BA to MD Cohort, Reflects on Graduating from Medical School
Egyptian American medical student Amera Hassan has long known that she wanted to be a doctor, so when she applied to college, participating in the U of M’s BA/MD program was a no-brainer.
Amera Hassan can hardly believe that she’s actually a doctor.
“It’s so surreal!” she laughs. “I don’t know how I’m going to go to residency on my first day and introduce myself as a doctor because I’m so used to saying, ‘Hi, I’m the medical student!’”
Hassan graduates from the U of M Medical School today, and the feeling is nothing short of incomprehensible. But when she steps back and looks at her life, Hassan knows that she’s exactly where she’s always been meant to be. Having spent time in both the United States and Egypt growing up, she says that seeing stark health inequities inspired her ambitions.
“As a kid, the health injustices really struck a chord in me. I knew I wanted to be a doctor because I wanted to make the world a better place,” she recalls. “I saw a problem in the world, and I wanted to fix it.”
Knowing her goals early, Hassan was determined to forge her path to medicine, and after participating in Postsecondary Enrollment Options (PSEO) at the U of M as a teenager, the perfect opportunity was presented to her: the U of M Medical School’s very first cohort of the BA/MD Scholars Program. The program, designed for exceptional Minnesota residents who were already certain they wanted to pursue a career in medicine, allows students to complete both their undergraduate degree and their medical degree at the U of M in just seven years.
“It was the first year they were ever doing the program, so it was exciting to me to be a part of something new,” Hassan remembers. “They give you the support and advice that you need in order to make it to medical school.”
The mentorship and guidance Hassan received beginning in her undergraduate education allowed her to explore all facets of medicine throughout her seven years, taking her from urban clinics to rural clinics, and even to Norway and the United Arab Emirates to explore her passions.
“I was interested to see how it might feel to practice in different settings and see what I would potentially want in my future,” she says. “I’ve seen disease and traumas of both rural and urban settings. I wanted to be well trained.”
An internship in emergency medicine at a Two Harbors hospital solidified Hassan’s future plans as she found a passion for emergency medicine through a mentor.
“What I found I loved about emergency medicine as a specialty is that we never turn a patient away. We don’t care if you have insurance or not, we don’t care if you’re documented or not. And because of that, I think we get to see a lot more than many other doctors get to see.”
After graduation, Hassan is moving to Chicago, IL to begin her residency in emergency medicine at the University of Chicago, her top-ranked residency program. She chose the program after meeting an Egyptian American doctor who graduated from the program, and she is excited to follow in the footsteps of the wonderful physicians who came before her.
“Looking to the future, I could be an Egyptian American doctor in the US, or I could work in refugee camps. One of the doctors who graduated from my residency program went to Gaza to provide medical relief there. I want to be someone who can do something like that. I want to follow in their footsteps.”
Preparing for the future, Hassan is humbled to reflect on the journeys that she and her fellow BA/MD scholars have embarked on.
“It’s been seven years for me with these students. I’m familiar with my story of how I got to where I am,” she elaborates. “But I’m also familiar with these other people’s stories. It’s been amazing to not only live my journey, but to see my cohort’s journeys in parallel.”